What's Up?

We made it home safely from Texas, but we have not been good at taking pictures, so I haven't blogged.



Reed has been his normal sweet self over the past few days and he has not even had too much trouble adjusting to the new sleep schedule. For the past month or so we have been a little lax with him and letting him stay up too late and not being very strict at bedtime allowing him to get up several times before he ultimately goes to sleep.



We (or rather I [Jeff] the bed putter-downer) resolved that after Texas, Reed was going back to his normal going to bed on his own after I read him a book.

So far, it has worked pretty well, except for tonight, when he heard me fixing myself a Coke Zero and the ice maker made him beg the question "What's that sou- und daddy?" and then when Abbey decided to take a bath and Reed asked "Where's that water coming from?" or then when my cell phone rang and he said "Daddy, I need to answer the phone?"



Last night he woke up in the night and yelled downstairs that wanted to listen to music. I guess I should preface this by saying that when I am awoken in the middle of the night I am not the most caring, nor compassionate person. So, I just yelled back "Well, turn it on then." Thankfully, Reed doesn't need a big conversation in the night, so he promptly turned his music on and went back to bed.



Since several "loud" noises have woken Reed tonight, I decided that I would blog from the guest room to make sure that he stays in his bed. Reed did look in here and ask me if I was on the "taputer".





I thought that he was going to sleep because I heard him yawn pretty loudly, but just now I heard him singing to himself. He has developed a new (BAD) habit of "whatever it takes" to stay awake. Sometimes that involves accidentally dropping all 322 stuffed animals that he "needs" to sleep with which includes 3 different monkeys, 4 giraffes, 2 teddy bears, and of course, 1 Mickey, and yes, he knows when one is missing.

Even though sometimes bedtime is a headache when he avoids going to sleep, I wouldn't trade it. He is the sweetest little boy ever and we are so blessed to have the opportunity to get to be his parents. We're so glad God chose us!

Last Night in Texas

We have had a great week in Texas at LifeWay Kids Conference. It has been a bunch of fun seeing all of our friends from all over the US. I love teaching conferences, but they can certainly wear you out. I don't know how school teachers do it!



Reed has had an incredible time! He loves traveling and he is a great traveler.



Today Abbey and Reed decided to drive over to Dallas Baptist University. That's where Abbey got her Master's degree.



Abbey got a new DBU t-shirt and window decal.


Reed thinks that he might go to DBU one day.




The new chapel at DBU is HUGE!




The above picture was taken the last time we were in Texas and Reed was not yet three-dimensional. It is in front of our homestead while in Seminary.



Here is today's picture. I've got to lose some WEIGHT!



Isn't this a great picture of us? Too bad someone's sticky fingers were all over the lens at some point before the picture was made!

Texas Update

Our trip to Texas was uneventful. Reed had plenty of toys to keep him occupied.



Last night we went to First Baptist Church, Cedar Hill, Texas. That's the first church where I served on staff. It was great to see my kids all grown up. Chris in the red shirt is one of my favorite kids of all time! I'm so proud of him.



Today at lunch we went to Campo Verde. It was our favorite Mexican restaurant when we lived here.



Reed loved it because it has a bazillion Christmas lights and several trains running through it.



We met up with Mary from Abbey's old workplace.



The conference started off great. I love LifeWay Kids Conference, because I get to see all of my friends.



I worked this morning setting up the booth and then I worked in the booth, we heard John Kramp speak and then I helped Bill count the conferees in the different conferences.



Instead of going to hear Comedian Ken Davis speak tonight, we headed over to meet Blanton, Jaime, and Parrish our best seminary friends.



It was great to see them. Reed is having a fun time playing in "Uncle Bill's Vacation House" (the hotel).



And he even got me to climb up the PlayPlace at McDonald's and go down the slide. I hate those things!

Sitting in the Airport

So, here I sit in Columbia, South Carolina airport. It's a pretty nice airport. They even have nice rocking chairs to relax in while you wait on your flight. They do not, however, have many flights going out!

After a very busy with with Writers Conference, Abbey and I followed true fashion and overbooked ourselves. Abbey went with Manya to Memphis to Beth Moore and I hopped a plane and flew to Columbia to teach a conference. When I agreed to do this conference, like 8 months ago, it didn't seem that silly!

The piece of the puzzle that I forgot to connect was that LifeWay Kids Conference in Arlington starts on Monday.



That wouldn't be so bad either except for at the time, I assumed that we would be flying to LKC. Little did I know that in order to save on expenses, we would be driving! So, that leaves me here, resting in the Columbia airport, because when I get home I will be driving to Memphis to spend the night at Lola and Pop's where I will pick up my family. We will leave out early in the morning and drive to Dallas. We're excited that will be able to see friends and attend church at First Baptist Church Cedar Hill, TX which is the first staff position I held.



The funniest thing about this whole marathon of conferences that I now find myself running is that my flight back to Nashville involves a connection in Memphis. Yes, you read that correctly. I am going to fly over Nashville to Memphis, fly from Memphis back to Nashville, get in our van and drive from Nashville to Memphis. What is wrong with this picture?

Oh well, it is worth it. I had a great time at Writers Conference this year. God has blessed me with an incredible team to serve with and I can't wait to see what He does with the ideas that were discussed this week. I taught a conference today at a church that was inspired to reach out to parents after attending a conference I taught in South Carolina about 9 months ago. This church, which probably has about 15 children on Sunday morning, had over 100 teachers and parents in attendance today. And next week, I'll get to see some of our best friends, some of my favorite ministry leaders, and get to teach some new conferences, plus I'll have my family with me.

So, while it may seem like we've lost our minds, we haven't. We possibly could schedule better, but where's the fun in that?

It's Fall!

Reed has been really excited that it is turning to cooler weather!



We love the colors fall and we also love that we found some REALLY REALLY great prices on mums in the middle of the country.



We had a garage sale the other day in which we sold a bunch of CVS stuff including 19 glucose monitors. So, we used a little of that money to buy a couple of pumpkins and a couple of mums.



We're also excited that we are getting to see Reed in some of his super cute consignment clothes!



Okay, so here's a silly Reed story.



On the way to church Sunday, Reed kept repeating, "Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary" over and over and over.



After a few minutes he said, "I need new batteries."



Our kid is H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S!

Okay, I'm a Slacker!

I can't believe how low I have gone on the blogging pole!



I used to be so good at blogging everyday and then one day ... not so much!



I don't know what it is that made me quit blogging everyday!



But, I do think that it might have had something to do with a very, very active 2.5 year old!



Oh, and have I mentioned that my very active 2.5 year old (and very cute at that) has decided that he doesn't believe in naps anymore?



He also believes in doing whatever it takes to keep from going to bed at night.



He has recently decided that he needs 65 stuffed animals to rest comfortably, but his two favorite ones Donkey and Mickey are the ones that get to sleep closest to him.



The other night I told him that if he got out of the bed one more time I was going to take Mickey and Donkey away from him.



About 5 minutes later, he peered into the family room reached Mickey out to me, and said, "Here, you can have him."



I took Mickey and put Reed back in his bed.



Despite his desire to avoid sleep at all cost, he is mostly happy.



Today he wouldn't take a nap at MDO, so he told me over the phone that he has "disobeyed Mrs. Kim" because he wouldn't take a nap.



Tonight Reed decided that he wanted to cut some paper.



He had a lot of fun cutting.



He is very serious about it.



He did a really good job because he was also wearing Britton's "croc shoes" that they traded the other day and still haven't traded back.